Into the Fire

[Forgive me for this but when I first saw the title of this novel, I thought of the film I watched with my husband in exchange for him seeing “The Notebook” with me. That film was “Alien vs. Predator”. At the theatre no less. So. Anyway.]

C. J. Baxter, successful author who’s gotten that way from writing thinly disguised stories about his life in his hometown, carries a silent life-altering memory with him into his adult life. He discovers it affects him more than he’s willing to admit when he returns to his hometown of Adelia in upstate New York after “stealing” his dog from what used to be his home and his in-the-process-of-becoming ex-wife.

When he revisits his family and townspeople for his grandfather’s funeral after a 17 year absence, he creates tension whenever he’s around his father and his older brother Graham who is running for a senate seat. This secret he’s kept since a young boy permeates every moment between his brother, father, and himself. And there’s an anger under his cool demeanor so familiar to him he doesn’t recognize it until an old acquaintance and a favorite old boss make it evident to him.

Deciding to remain in Adelia since his soon-to-be ex reported the theft of his dog to the police causing a warrant for his arrest back home in Tennessee, and after learning he’s being sued for throwing a hardbound copy of his latest novel at a critic in the audience of a live reading, scoring a direct hit on the man’s head, he gets a job at the old hardware store where he worked as a kid for a man he admired, and he agrees to refurbish a house with his old friend Dennis, the Indian with a stuttering problem.

Ferreting out information about some underhanded intentions his brother has planned if elected, C. J. plans to expose him in an article he’s been asked to write for a national magazine. When the gist of the article is discovered by Graham’s slimy attorney and campaign manager, the event to follow is reminiscent of the term C. J.’s boss, friend, and hunting companion explains about the origin of the term “hunter’s moon”:

“The Indians called it the hunter’s moon because it rose early and let them continue to track the prey they’d been hunting even as the sun went down.”

Now for those of you who insist on a dynamite first line or startling first couple pages, I suggest you get over it for the sake of experiencing a very well written second novel by Don Hoesel titled Hunter’s Moon published by Bethany House and up this week for the CFBA Tour. The opening is fairly placid, but it quickly gains a foothold of intriguing storytelling. This is a real story with a lot of detail, a little bit of rule-breaking in the writing—which you know is often my kind of writing—and even with its rather typical topic of “family secrets”, this novel rises far above the staid and familiar plot suggestion.

Hunter’s Moon meticulously weaves not only a family history with secrets, threats and manipulations, missteps, abandonment, old loves, and unknown attachments, but also the early journey of new faith in C. J.’s life capturing the clumsiness and spiritual immaturity of a newly redeemed soul until that faith kicks in when least expected.

I loved this novel. For those of you who enjoy detailed portraits of characters with a lot of unexpected and unpredictable interaction, Hunter’s Moon is a good read. A literary achievement with just the right amount of suspenseful buildup leading to a satisfactory conclusion . . .